Welcome to Torchwood
by Helen Pattskyn
Summary: AU. Sequel to Black Rose. Tim McGee's first day at Torchwood is worse than Gwen's. Hinting at McAbby ...COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Again, I apologize for starting something new… this hit me (literally, it unfurled start to finish in my head) a couple of nights ago. I had hoped to get it finished by the time I started posting, but I have a hard time sitting on anything. It's just a short piece, though, under 10 chapters, with half that already written.

I haven't abandoned **Blood Moon**; I've got a couple of chapters written, they just need to be polished… give me another week? Pretty please?

This story was (unintentionally, I'm sure) inspired by **Hotflower901**. The comment about whether or not Tim has the nerves for Torchwood niggled at my brain… but not in a bad way. There will be many things Tim needs to cope with. This story is in no way meant as an explanation of how he gets through but rather an exploration, as well as a chance for me to really dig into his head… so to Hotflower901, a special, huge thank you!

**Timeline:** Picks up right where **Black Rose** left off…

**Rating**: **T**... There's nothing overly sexual in this one, just a few four letter words. And of course Jack Harkness… he should probably come with his very own special parental advisory… ;-)

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**Chapter One: Down the Rabbit Hole**

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Tim looked around the Hub as he followed Jack down the steps from the boardroom level; Ianto was brining up the rear, carrying their empty coffee cups.

Abby was back from the city morgue and at her station wearing earphones, looking busy. She had three large tables set up in a U with all of her lab equipment and several computers on two and a third set up as an empty work space. It was like someone had taken her entire lab from NCIS and condensed it down to one small work station… and added a few things Tim didn't recognize.

Near her station, Mickey Smith was still working on the thing that looked like it had been designed by H.R. Geiger… Although at the moment working on it seemed to entail staring at it in an almost Zen like fashion, as if it would suddenly explain itself if he just stared hard enough. (To be honest, Tim wasn't sure he could have come up with a better tactic. If it _was_ a curling iron, he didn't want to know it was supposed to curl…) Mickey had almost as many computers set up as Abby, but only two tables and no lab equipment, just some tools stashed under one of the tables.

A third desk sat near by... it was a cluttered mess of papers, pamphlets, knick nackes and framed photographs, mostly of the same man. A big guy with a broad, happy-go-lucky grin. A copy of _What to Expect when You're Expecting_lay open (pages down, ruining the spine) over the keyboard.

"Gwen's desk," Ianto told him quietly from behind. "She's due in about seven months. Her husband Rhys," he added of the photographs. Over the last few weeks, Gwen had seriously gone overboard on the whole personalizing her space thing. He hoped she would get over it after the baby came... his mother had mentioned something called 'nesting syndrom.'

Ianto hid a private smile, glancing at Jack, wondering if he'd done something similiar when he was pregnant with Jason... _my God, how weird has my life become?_ he suddenly wondered.

Mickey looked up as the three of them reached the main level fo the Hub. "Oi, mate," he flashed a bright grin at Tim. "You in or did Captain Dimples scare you off?"

Tim waited for the obligatory slap upside the head (or some sort of more serious reprimand).

"Watch it," Jack warned the other man, but it was obvious he wasn't offended by the insubordination.

"I erm… I guess… I'm in," Tim wasn't quite sure what to say. He wasn't even sure when or why he'd said yes to the job, but at least he had Abby… who was oblivious to the world around her, head bobbing to the music only she could hear as she worked.

He felt a familiar knot in his gut as he remembered his first few weeks at NCIS. His first day… but he was older now. Wiser. He had field experience. He wasn't technically a probie any more. He shouldn't be nervous, it was just a job…a job that entailed cleaning up after a rift through time and space and lending the occasional hand against invading aliens.

Just then Abby looked up and smiled that bright Abby-smile at Jack and even though it wasn't directed at him, Tim felt better for seeing it. **"I'VE GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU,**" she yelled.

With a sigh, the Captain walked over and removed the headphones from her ears so they could all hear the music pounding out of them. "Yes, Abbs?"

Abby ducked her head, "Sorry." She hit the remote and turned down her music. "The victim was human," she gave Jack a sour, accusatory, glare before continuing on in a brighter tone. "But what killed him definitely wasn't," she brought the autopsy bay up on the centre most computer scren.

Tim stepped up just close enough to get a peak over the Captain's shoulder without getting in the way. He was having a hard time assessing what the expected 'office' protocols were, other than it was obvious that Jack always went first. Just the same, the Captain stepped to one side, allowing the younger man a better look at the screen.

"Smile, Bobby, you're on Candid Camera!" Abby hollered into the microphone on her desk.

The blond medic looked up; Tim was struck by the fact that he wasn't wearing a protective faceplate, like Ducky always wore in autopsy. He wasn't even wearing a mask, just gloves and a lab coat, his shaggy blond hair falling around his face. (Gibbs would have had a fit if someone had shown up looking like that for work… but Jack wasn't Gibbs, Tim reminded himself.)

The blond smiled up at the camera before going back to work.

"Hang on," said Abby; a few keystrokes later and Tim could see the group of them in a corner section of the computer screen. He noted the web cam atop her computer…

"This is Timothy McGee," her tone was gleeful. "Jack just hired him!"

"He warn you about his pet pterodactyl yet?" was the medic's wry greeting.

The Captain cleared his throat, his hands settling on his hips in an irate stance, "I believe you were about to tell me something interesting, Ms. Scuito."

"Oh, right," she rolled her chair over to another monitor. "See… this is the DNA from our John Doe…_ completely_ human," she pointed to the screen as if she expected Jack to be able to see that it was normal, human DNA… and, Tim realized, as if it might not be any more surprising if it _hadn't_ been normal human DNA, even though the badly mangled corpse on the autopsy table looked more or less human. "But _this_," she brought up a second image, "Is the DNA I collected from one of the wounds…"

"Whatever chewed into this guy was big, Jack," said Bobby, looking up into the camera. "I'll have a better picture how big when I take a cast off the impressions it left in the bones."

Jack nodded, turning his attention back to Abby.

"I'm running this through the data base, but so far nothing," she told him.

"What does that mean?" asked Tim, then cursed himself for asking a stupid question.

"It means it's something we may have never run into before," Jack's tone was anything but derisive.

Tim blinked, more surprised by Jack's attitude than the statement itself. Just the same, it was the statement he addressed. "Do you get that a lot?"

"At least once a week," Ianto told him.

It wasn't a very comforting statement. "So erm… when do I start?" he asked.

Jack turned and flashed another one of those big bright smiles, "No time like the present…" as if in cue, the rift monitor beeped over at Mickey's desk.

"On it, Boss," the young man said before Jack could say a word. "Rift spike. Near city hall," he answered the next unasked question. "Something probably dropped through."

Another alarm sounded at Abby's computer.

"Satellite warning," she brought up the image. "We've got something coming down in… Cow… Cowbridge?" She asked, instinctively looking to Ianto. "You have a city called Cowbridge?"

"Be grateful it's called that instead of some long Welsh word," said Mickey.

"Cowbridge is a market town," Ianto informed her. "Lovely place, actually. It's in the Vale of Glamorgan."

"Sounds swell," her tone was ripe with sarcasm.

Jack cleared his throat.

Abby went back to her computer. "It's about a metre across maybe…definitely falling, not landing… or landing so it looks like it's falling. Doesn't look like it's breaking apart… hang on…" she hit another round of keys.

"Is that the CIA's satellite?" Tim asked as a new picture came up.

Abby winked at him over her shoulder, "I won't tell if you don't."

"Abby, you and Mickey go see what's landing in Cowbridge," said Jack, "Ianto, Tim, you're with me. We've got the SUV…"

"We really ought to get a second vehicle, Jack," the Welshman told him. His tone gave the impression that this wasn't the first time he'd brought the subject up.

Jack's randy smile made his partner groan. "Maybe we'll tackle that on our next day off," he raised his eyebrows suggestively. Then in a more serious tone, he leant towards the microphone, "Bobby…"

"I'll man the fort," the medic cut him off. He was elbow deep in flayed corpse anyway.

"Call Wendy in if anything comes up before we get back," Jack advised him.

The other nodded.

Tim blinked in surprise when a few moments later, Ianto handed him a 9mm from the armoury. "I'm not licensed in this country…"

"Repeat after me," the young Welshman instructed in a dry tone. "'I'm with Torchwood.'"

"But…" he swallowed back an argument; arguing with the office manager, whether or not he was married to the boss, was never a good idea.

Abby and Mickey were already gone; Tim desperately wished he'd been paired with her for his first assignment. There was too much he felt like he was missing…

"Come on, Kids, time's wasting…" grinned Jack as he headed out the door, leaving the other two men to either follow in his wake or get left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

Ok, I feel like a twit, I COMPLETELY forgot to point out for anyone who hasn't caught it yet, the marvelous **Sidlerocks** has written a follow up to** Forget Not Me **called** Interlude, Tale of Kam Anders.** It is a truly a must read ;-)

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**Chapter Two: On the Job Training**

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If asked thirty minutes ago what was the most frightening half an hour he'd ever spend in a moving vehicle, Tim McGee would have immediately said driving with Ziva David for the first time. Ziva had learned to drive in Israel, not that Tim would hold that against the Israeli equivalent of the DMV. He was sure that most Israelis were conscientious and even courteous behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Ziva was another story. She was skilled, most definitely, but call the first time he'd been a passenger when she was behind the wheel 'harrowing' would have been an understatement.

Her driving, however, paled by comparison to Jack's. Weaving in and out of rush hour traffic, Tim was certain he wasn't going to survive his first hour, let alone his first day at Torchwood. When Jack finally pulled the SUV to a halt in a no-parking zone (official vehicles only, the sign said), Tim was only too happy to get out.

"Where did he learn to drive?" He muttered at Ianto in a quiet tone. The Welshman seemed completely unflustered by his partner's driving… then again, he gave the impression that very little got to him.

"On this planet?" The Captain answered the question of his drivers' education for himself, having overheard – Tim looked embarrassed that he'd overheard. Jack flashed a good natured grin in the younger man's direction, joining him and Ianto on the curb. "Nineteen twenty something, I think. Didn't really trust those first cars all that much. Never trusted horses much, either," he shrugged. "Give me a good pair of boots, though…" he flipped open his wrist strap and began checking for residual rift energy.

"Is he… are you…?" Tim looked from one man to the other and then back again… he'd heard of hazing the new kid and he'd put up with an awful lot from Tony and Kate…

"Quite serious," Ianto replied as if he were, indeed, quite serious. "Here," he handed over a piece of equipment a little larger than an old PDA as Jack heading off down the street.

Tim paid careful attention to the Welshman's instructions on how the energy detector worked. He wished he had something to write it all down on… even thought here were just a couple of knobs, there seemed to be a lot that the one little piece of equipment could do.

Tim wondered again what he was doing there. Run of the mill criminals and psychopaths were one thing… But somewhere in between inter-dimensional aliens trying to take over the earth by stealing the bodies of the dead and how Torchwood London was more or less responsible for the Daleks continued existence in this reality… coupled with the fact that it was definitely neither the first nor last time Earth would see alien invasion... Tim had accepted a position he knew he was wholly unqualified for.

Abby was brilliant, he understood what she was doing here, but him…? He was a good investigator, he supposed, he had degrees in computer forensics and biochemical engineering from MIT and Johns Hopkins respectively. He knew he was smart... _McGeek..._

"Why… why do you do this?" the words tumbled out of Tim's mouth almost entirely on their own.

"Beg pardon?" Ianto queried.

"I mean... I understand why somebody has to do what you do, but why you... why him…?" he glanced in the direction Jack had taken off in. On second thought, he could see why Jack. He doubted Jack felt under qualified for anything. "You said you looked over my record…what in my college transcripts said 'qualified to fight aliens?"

Ianto smiled, seeming to understand. "There is no training course for something like this at University, Mr. McGee. No job that can truly prepare you for what we do. Before I came to work for Jack, I was a junior researcher for Torchwood London. Believe me, it was very 'junior'." He added. "What I learned about field work, tracking down aliens, handling alien technology, I learned from Jack. Nobody is expecting you or anyone else to come into this knowing everything there is to know about extraterresterial life. Just do your best."

"I guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed," admitted Tim; he knew he couldn't be sure, but Ianto looked younger than he was… he looked like a kid… but he seemed so… calm. "You guys don't really have pet pterodactyl, do you?"

"Her name's Myfanwy," the Welshman answered in a smooth tone, "and she's taken quite a liking to Abby. Although I think that's because she spoils her worse than I do," he added with a wry grin. He had caught Abby sneaking Myfanwy chocolate bars at least once a day and she was starting to get chubby as a result. "Now… for right now, we're just looking for residual rift energy," his tone remained patient as he turned the other man's attention back to the energy detector. "Chances are it's nothing."

Tim felt dubious. "How often is it nothing?"

"Quite often, actually. We get a lot of random junk."

"Like curling irons?" he tried for a joke, hoping it would be well received.

Ianto's smile was heartening, "Like curling irons. Come on. I'll go around this way, you take the opposite direction. If you do find something call for back up." He'd already outfitted Tim with a com on the way downtown. "And remember, if anyone asks…"

"Torchwood," he replied with more confidence than he felt.

"Jack and I won't be far."

Tim nodded and headed down the street in the direction he'd been told to go.

Ianto waited until he was out of sight to contact Jack on a private channel, "Do you really think this was such a good idea? He seems a bit nervous."

"You saw that blip on the Mickey's computer. It's probably nothing more threatening than an intergalactic desk set," came Jack's reply.

"I don't know, Cariad. I've seen some pretty scary desk sets in my time," Ianto teased back, glancing at the energy detector. He had to admit, whatever it was, it wasn't giving off much energy. While that made him feel better about the possibility of the latest 'rift gift' not being anything dangerous, it made tracking it down on the busy street extremely difficult. He switched frequencies, "Tim?"

"I'm here. I'm heading around the building into the alley. Erm… over and out…" he added hesitantly.

Ianto just barely held back his chuckle. He was sure he'd been just as nervous on his first day, although for very different reasons, only half of which he wanted to think about now… the good half. Jack on top of him in that warehouse…him on top of Jack... how much he'd wanted to kiss him then and there… "It's not necessary to end with over and out," he said in a carefully neutral tone. "Just keep your eyes open."

"Coms, too," Jack added in a dry tone. "That means _you_, Mr. Jones."

"Are you _ever_ going to let me live that down?"

"Not likely." Jack's smirk was audible.

With a sigh, Ianto went back to the task at hand…

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Tim took a quick little breath and let it out…and another, and another… quick short breaths were better for calming the nerves than big long breaths. At least that's what he'd read. He wasn't sure precisely what he was nervous about. Just because it was his first day on a new job, a job he hadn't come here looking for or, once it was brought up, that he'd intended to take. Just because, he realized, he was wearing his only suitable work outfit… not that he had any idea what the dress code really was…

Just because he hated uncertainty, even the mundane uncertainty of not knowing what he was supposed to wear…

"Just because I'm in some alleyway behind Cardiff city hall looking for something that could either be a pez dispenser from outer space or a pint sized atom bomb…" he checked the read out on the energy detector again and tapped his com, "I think I'm getting something." He quickened his pace down the alley as his heart beat louder in his ears.

Tim rounded the corner at the same time as Ianto did, on the other side of the alley. Tim saw it first, however, a battered sphere no bigger than a bowling ball. He felt himself let out the breath he hadn't even been aware he was holding. It was nothing. No flashing lights, no waving arms… _no inhuman voice threatening to exterminate… _Tim couldn't help but shudder at the memory of that day, several months long past, when the earth received the first concrete proof of extraterrestrial life… horrible, inhuman…

But this was nothing like that. It was just a battered metal ball… heck it might even be some child's toy. Somewhere on some strange planet, there might be some alien kid wondering why he couldn't find his ball.

Tim took a step closer to get a better look at it… he heard the loud 'popping' sound, but not in time to get clear...


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so much for the support that this has gotten so far! I am always nervous when I post something new... it's really great to hear in from my regular readers. You guys really make my day. ;-)

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**Chapter Three: Voices**

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A cloud of white smoke blurred Tim's vision, burned at his lungs, choking the breath out of them... he wheezed and coughed and was only barely aware of arms pulling him back out of the smoke... of Ianto's voice calling into the com for assistance.

The cement came up hard and fast; Ianto kept him them both from cracking their skulls against the ground as they collapsed to the alley floor... the Welshman's breath was coming in painful ragged gasps that burned his lungs.

Jack rounded the corner… "What the Hell happened!" the panic in his tone could easily have been mistaken for anger.

Tim looked up at the Captain… with his vision made blurred an hazy by tears he could barely make out Jack's face, but his expression was clear. He was ready to kill someone… _me…_ Tim thought.

Jack fell to his knees next to the two men, his Welby quickly holstered; there was nothing in the alley except two gasping men and the battered metallic sphere, now open, like an orange that had been cut into quarters. His gaze came quickly back to his partner... "Ianto…"

Still choking for air he waved aside the Captain's concern and indicated that the other man was in far worse shape.

With some difficulty, Jack turned his attention to Tim... his eyes were squeezed shut, watering... "Lie still," his voiced sounded calm, but Tim was sure he was ready to kill someone…_me, _his mind kept saying. "What happened?" the Captain asked again.

"Not sure," Ianto caught his breath enough to answer; speaking hurt even more than breathing. "We both rounded the corner – he was closer. It seemed to… explode… in this puff of smoke. I'm fine," he added to Jack's expression.

He clearly didn't believe the younger man. "Let's get you both back to the Hub and let Bobby have a look at you."

"Jack…" Ianto nodded towards the sphere.

"I've got it. Can you walk?"

"I think so. Just having a little bit of a hard time seeing," he admitted. "Mr. McGee...?"

_Bloody __Yank, why the Hell did Jack have to go and hire __**another**__ one. Just because __**he's**__ American… pretty soon we're going to be Torchwood Fucking USA… _

"Tim… can you hear me?" Ianto's voice was more insistent, demanding an answer.

"Yeah… yeah… I think I'm ok…" With some effort, Tim forced his eyes open and started to sit up. His lungs still burned, but he couldn't tell if it was from the coughing fit or from whatever that smoke had been. At least he could breathe again.

"Take it easy," Jack extended his hand, helping the American to his feet as Ianto got shakily to his.

"Lean on me," Ianto said to Tim. "Can you see?"

"It's all pretty fuzzy," he admitted.

"There's eyewash in the first aid kit in the SUV," said Ianto. "I should be able to get us there," he added, mostly for Jack's benefit.

Reluctantly, Tim leant against the younger man… he couldn't believe how stupid he'd been. Jack and Ianto had both said not to touch anything… but it had looked harmless… he wasn't even sure he'd actually touched it… I just popped open… it wasn't his fault… it was all his fault.

With the world a stinging blur of noise and colour, he had no choice but to let the Welshman lead the way and hope the younger man didn't shove him into traffic out of sheer spite… he shook himself, trying to figure out where _that_ macabre thought had come from.

"Hang on," Ianto advised. "We're almost there."

In short order, they reached the SUV and Ianto opened the hatch. He settled Tim in; his own vision had started to clear but it was obvious the other man was still struggling to see anything. "Just sit tight, you'll be fine," he promised, hoping that they hadn't accidently unleashed some intergalactic version of Anthrax… or worse.

Jack was right behind them with the sphere; whatever had been in it was gone now, blown away on the wind.

"We should try to secure the area," Ianto said to his partner as he dug out the first aid kit.

"Already done," the Captain told him; his expression said that he doubted it would do much good. The best they could hope for was that whatever it was, it either wasn't deadly or that it would become less dangerous as it dispersed… "Let's hope it's just some kind of inert matter," Jack added, remembering Gwen's first day… the smoke hadn't acted like any sort of life form, but if it was a spore or a microbe or anything else that would multiply on its own, they could have a situation on their hands. "City Hall has been evacuated and the police and hospitals have been asked to contact us if anyone shows up with unusual symptoms," he said.

Ianto nodded; he helped Tim with the eyewash while Jack put the sphere into containment. "There… better?" Ianto asked his patient.

"I think so…I… I'm sorry…I…"

_Sorry? __That stuff could wipe out half the city… _

"I doubt it was your fault… it looked like it just went off. Can you breathe all right?" asked Ianto.

"Yeah… thanks," Tim cast a doubtful look at the man taking care of him. Ianto was injured himself… and Jack still looked ready to kill somebody because of it.

"Here," the Captain took the eyewash from Ianto and told him to tilt his head back.

"I'm not a child, Jack," the Welshman protested. "I'm perfectly capable of…"

"Humour me," the Captain cut him off.

_It's the least I can do after the idiot over there almost killed you… _

Tim swallowed. He looked at Jack, but all the Captain did was flash a tight smile and tell him to climb into the back seat.

"Just take it easy," Jack added. "We'll be back to the Hub in no time."

Ianto groaned, "Perhaps you should try observing just a_ few_ of the posted speed limits on the way back…"

His answer was a dry chuckle.

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By the time they reached the Hub, Tim's vision had cleared, but his head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton and his lungs still ached.

He found himself feeling surprised when the medic – the same man who had been performing an autopsy earlier – checked him over first… Ianto was Jack's partner… he should get preferential treatment… Tim shook himself. He'd caught the worst of whatever it was he'd been hit with…

"You all right?" Bobby asked. He'd checked his pupils, taken a blood sample, listened to his lungs and heart.

"Yeah… yeah just… just my head feels a little weird." He looked over at Jack, who was hovering near Ianto, still looking pissed. "I'm sorry…"

Jack waved it aside. "It wasn't your fault. All that really matters is that you're both going to be all right."

_Oh of course, he'd say that…_ Ianto's voice… his lips weren't moving, but Tim could hear his voice… _Bloody Americans always sticking up for each other… _he sighed and rolled his eyes, casting a dark glower in Tim's direction. _Next thing I know I'll be finding him in Jack's __**bed**__… _


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you again!! I can't say how much I appreciate the lovely reviews… you guys make my day every time.**

**Discliamer: I take no responsibility for marital squabbles over whether it's Bobby or Robert ! ;-) LOL  
(Thank you for that smile. I can really appreciate it.)**

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**Chapter Four: Bad Behaviour **

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"Timmy!" Abby jumped out of Mickey's big black truck before he'd even come to a full stop and ran across the car park when she saw Tim leaning up against the railing looking out over the bay.

He turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. It was a forced effort.

Abby swept him into a huge hug. "I heard what happened. Are you all right?"

He held her a moment before disentangling himself from the warmth of her embrace. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he couldn't shake the feeling that everybody hated him; he'd used not feeling well as an excuse to get out of the Hub and get some fresh air. The truth was he just wanted to be away from the others… especially Ianto and Jack. "Word travels fast, huh?" he tried to turn it into a joke. "The new guy is an idiot," he didn't laugh and he couldn't make himself meet her gaze.

"Don't say that! Everybody makes mistakes and Jack said it wasn't even your fault."

Tim stuffed his hands into his pockets, "I could have gotten somebody killed, Abbs." Ianto. Jack. _Myself… _If Abby had been there… he'd wanted his first assignment to be with her, but if it had been her and not Ianto… not that nearly getting a stranger killed was any better than getting a friend killed. "Maybe I should stick to writing."

"You can't quit over one bad day! Come on. There's a café down boardwalk, let's go get a cup of coffee. It won't be as good as Ianto's, of course. But sometimes getting away is what really matters." She slid her arm into his, clearly not going to take no for an answer.

He forced another smile. Somehow he had the feeling that the last thing he should do right now was ask Ianto Jones for a cup of coffee anyway. "I can't believe you started drinking coffee," he said.

She shrugged. "It's all Ianto's fault. I barely touch the stuff except for his."

He nodded and waited while Abby used her com to tell Mickey where she was going before asking about Cowbridge.

"It looked just like you'd expect a town called Cowbridge to look," she told him with a broad grin. "But there were all these neat little shops…I've got to go back! I could only talk Mickey into giving me fifteen minutes to shop. I bought myself a new pair of earrings and some great wool socks. I got you a pair, too."

"You didn't have to… thanks…" he relented to her smile. Just as long as she didn't try to put in a kilt or something…

When they reached the café, he opened the door for her.

"Hey, Tarra!" Abby called to one of the waitresses. She was young and had deep cherry red hair and thick black eyeliner; with her uniform she wore skeleton earrings (although that might have to do with Hallowe'en being only a month away… or maybe not). "My favourite table open?" Abby asked.

"Help yourself, Abbs. Tea?"

"Yes, please. And this is my friend Tim... he's like the rest of them with the coffee."

Tarra chuckled and nodded as she got down two cups, one for coffee and the other set up for hot tea.

"Could I pretty please get you to make us a couple of those amazing chocolate malts, too?" Abby begged.

The waitress smiled, "Have a seat and I'll be there in a tick."

"You are SO awesome!" Abby beamed back at her as she made her way to a quiet corner booth. She pulled out of her coat and slid in.

Tim sat down across from her; he still felt glum. "What about whatever it was that landed…?" he asked, mostly to give himself something else to think about than the way Ianto had kept glaring at him, as if he really expected Jack to… or him to…

Abby shrugged, "Just a rock. I took a scraping and some soil samples, but I'm betting it's nothing. It landed in some guy's field, though. Man was he pissed, _especially_ when we told him we were quarantining the field until I could get those tests run," she rolled her eyes. Then, "I wonder if pissed means pissed over here or just drunk," she wondered aloud. "I'll have to ask."

She reached across the table and laid her hands on top of his, "I can't wait for you to meet the rest of the team, you're going to love Gwen and Wendy. I hate being the only woman on shift… but with Gwen being pregnant, she's getting some extra time off. Not that I mind working extra hours… I seriously _love_ this job. I never thought I would… I mean, there I was today mucking around in some guy's field with Mickey, and Jack lets me carry a gun and everything," she grinned. "I am so happy we're going to be working together again. It'll be almost like old times."

"Except for the whole aliens part." And Abby carrying a gun… now _that _scared him, he was just wise enough not to say as much aloud.

"What is with you today…?" she smiled up as Tarra brought over the malts. "Thanks."

"Any time… you guys need anything else?"

"You hungry?" Abby asked her companion.

"Not really…"

"Just a basket of chips, then," Abby said to the waitress, before he could finish. "They have the best chips here…. But I swear, though, I have _got_ to bug Jack for a long weekend so I can go to London. I've been here a whole month and I haven't been to London yet."

Tim forced a smile. His stomach was tied up in knots and he didn't feel like eating or drinking coffee or even tackling the giant chocolate malt sitting in front of him, even though he loved chocolate malts.

"Are you sure you're feeling all right?" Abby asked. "You look a little pale."

"Yeah. Fine. Just… a headache, I guess."

"No one's going to say anything if you want to take the rest of the day off… it wasn't like you were expecting to start today, anyway."

He waved it off, as much as he really did want to go back to her place lie down. "I'll be fine."

With a forced effort, Tim dug into his malt. He drew the line, however at the basket of 'chips' that arrived a few minutes later, especially when Abby proceeded to drown them in salt and vinegar…

……………………………………………………………….

Tim came back into the Hub to find a new person there… probably not Gwen, she didn't look pregnant. She _did_ look as if she'd stolen half her wardrobe out of Stevie Nicks' old hippie trunk, however.

"So this is the infamous Tim," she said with a raised eyebrow. Her tone was soft, her smile was serene... it made him blush.

"Be nice," Abby instructed. "Timothy, this is Wendy Shutten… Wendy, the infamous Tim McGee."

"I thought I was the only infamous man around here," Jack teased, coming up behind them. He wrapped one arm around each of the ladies' shoulders. Neither seemed to mind.

Tim would have sworn he leered right at Abby, his gaze going _straight_ for her chest… but she remained oblivious. She was too nice… she honestly thought his flirting was innocent…

Jack turned his lecherous gaze on Wendy, wearing a cat that at the canary smile (or maybe a 'king of the castle' smile… his expression practically branded his name across their bodies, marking his territory, lest Tim get any ideas of his own.)

Tim cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jack asked; his tone _sounding_ sincere enough, but his expression… "Ianto went to lie down…" _leaving me free of the ol' ball and chain for a while,_ he cast another suggestive little glance at Abby and then Wendy. "Maybe you should too."

Tim shook himself. He felt as if his head was stuffed with cotton. "Yeah… yeah, maybe that's not a bad idea…"

"Yan's already got the bed, but there's a sofa in my old quarters… I used to live here," Jack explained.

"Yeah. Sofa's fine. Thanks, Boss," he tried to smile.

"Here," Abby volunteered to show him down to Jack's quarters… Tim looked at her carefully out of the corner of his eye as she walked him to Jack's office. There was only one logical explanation for her knowing where Jack kept his bed… his bedding (she got him some blankets and a pillow, once they'd descended the ladder…. _Having his bedroom right under his office must make for convenient rendezvous, _Tim thought.)

"Here," Abby said in a hushed voice, arranging the bedding on the comfortable old plaid sofa. "Just lie down and get some sleep. You're really not looking too good," she added, leaning in and kissing his cheek. "Sorry," she said of the giant lipstick smear; Abby tried to wipe it off with her thumb, but all she really did was smear it around worse. "There's a bathroom through there."

"You ah… you know this place pretty well," he tried to keep his tone neutral. The room didn't exactly scream 'den of iniquity' but he suspected that Jack didn't need much in the way of the usual accoutrements. His aftershave was enough to get the idea across that he had one thing on his mind and one thing only. Tim blinked… his thoughts felt slow… laboured… fuzzy…

Abby was talking: "Sometimes I work nights. Since Jack and Ianto moved out no one's here to keep Myfanwy and Janet company at night."

"Janet?"

"I'll introduce you later," she promised with a bright Abby-smile. "Just get some rest. I'm running some tests on that thing you guys found," her eyes betrayed her concern, even if her tone didn't.

Tim nodded; he found himself not believing she was going to be running any tests… After all, a boss like Jack Harkness, a place this big… there had to be dozens of quiet little corners she and the boss could… he shook himself. The Captain had been very clear… but then again, his partner had been in the room. Not that Tim expected he would have admitted to some stranger that he was sleeping with the female members of his staff.

Abby tucked him in and made her way back up the ladder… Something was definitely off.


	5. Chapter 5

…………………………………………………

**Chapter Five: Deferential Diagnosis **

…………………………………………………………………**..**

Feeling a bit like his old boss (minus the drug addiction and generally sour disposition), Bobby made two columns on the whiteboard; he'd acquired it his first week at Torchwood because some habits simply refused to die.

He labelled the first column Ianto and the second one Tim.

"Ianto said his head felt funny and he had a headache," Jack began. He was leaning up against the white tile wall of the medical bay, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't used to working like this. He wasn't sure he liked it.

Abby was perched on the counter. She would rather be upstairs at her station, but Bobby was right, if something was hinky, they needed to track _all_ the symptoms, especially if the stuff didn't disperse once it got airborne. If they started getting calls from hospitals or the police, they had to know what they were looking for. "Tim said he had a headache, too. He was acting _really_ distracted… like distracted even for him."

"Distracted?" Bobby questioned.

"Lack of focus," she amended. "And maybe a little down in the dumps. But that might just be because of Denise. _Blond_ Denise," she said 'blond' like it was a mouth full of sour milk. "I found a photo," she explained.

"What's wrong with blonds?" Bobby wanted to know, adding 'unfocused' and 'depressed??' to the list.

"Well nothing if it's a you and Timmy isn't dating you. _**Not**_ that he goes for guys," she shot Jack a look. "Do not even flirt with him."

"Feeling possessive, Abbs?" the Captain teased her.

"NO! Sheesh."

Bobby cleared his throat and looked Jack. "What about Ianto… distractedness? Depression?"

He shook his head. "He just said his head felt… stuffy," he shrugged, clearly not understanding what that was supposed to mean. "He said it was like cotton stuck between his ears."

"They were both tired," Abby added. "And Tim barely touched his malt. He loves chocolate malts so that was totally out of the ordinary for sure."

"At ten o'clock in the morning?" Bobby asked in an incredulous tone; her expression clearly stated that she thought he was crazy for having to ask. "Never mind," he added loss of apatite to Tim's column.

"Ianto wouldn't touch his coffee," said Jack.

"I think we can safely call that lack of apatite, too," the medic decided. "Anything else?"

They both shook their heads. Bobby looked over the list. It wasn't so much that the symptoms were indicative of anything serious, but they were too similar to ignore. "I'll keep tabs on how long they sleep…although it would help if we a CCTV feed in your room," he said to Jack.

"Yeah, I've heard that before," he couldn't help his smirk.

Bobby ignored it. "Abby, let me know when you finish your tests on that sphere…?"

"Will do," she hopped down from the counter and slipped past Jack on her way up to her station.

"I'll keep working here," Bobby assured his boss; he snapped the cap back on the dry erase marker. He knew Jack was more worried than he wanted to let on. "We'll figure this out… it might be nothing."

Jack pushed himself off the wall, crossing the distance between himself and the younger man. "I shouldn't have taken Tim into the field, not on his first day."

"Look what you did to me my first day."

"That was different. You had field experience with UNIT."

"And this guy worked for the United States Navy," was Bobby's argument. "Ianto said it seemed to off all on its own… Jack…" he stepped closer to draw the older man's attention. "What happened today could have happened to any of us."

"I hope that's not supposed to make me feel better."

The medic flashed a sympathetic smile, "I s'pose not. We all know the risks. We're all here because we want to be. I think I can speak for the whole team when I tell you that no one blames you for what happened today or any other day. You've pulled us through worse than this."

Jack managed a grin, "Cute _and_ clever... no wonder I keep you around."

Bobby chuckled.

"Cute, Clever_ and _ taken," Wendy reminded Jack, coming down the steps with a couple of cups of coffee.

"I'll arm wrestle you for him," Jack teased, taking the cup she offered him gratefully.

Wendy smirked, "Fine. But I get to wear the other skin."

"That's cheating," he protested.

"According to Ianto you're well acquainted with the concept," she quipped back, sliding in next to Bobby, who draped his arm around her a moment. He was still waiting for the computer to finish breaking down Tim's and Ianto's blood samples. Hopefully as soon as it did he would have some answers as to what was affecting them, whether it was chemical or biological.

……………………………………………………………………

_Blood… there was blood everywhere… it was on his hands… __it was all over his suit… that man… _

"_You didn't mean to do this… it was an accident… you didn't mean to kill him…"_

"_I wanted to repay him__… his upgrade failed."_

_Lisa… she didn't mean to… she couldn't help it… it wasn't her fault… his beautiful Lisa… his love… the one true love of his life… _

"_You take this and you shoot her!"_

_Jack. Jack shoving a gun in his face. Pointing it at him. _

"_I clean up after your shit, no questions asked and that's just the way you like it." You don't care about me. You don't care about anyone.__ You don't know how!_

_Jack handed him the gun. __"Take it. Shoot her." _

_Lisa. His Lisa.__ Jack wanted him to kill her. He wanted him to kill the one person who loved him… the only person who ever cared… the only person who mattered. "No…" No… Lisa… _

"_I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels… you take this and you__ shoot her… or I shoot __**you**__."_

_Jack._

_**Jack**__ had murdered her. _

_Jack had kissed him._

"_I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels…__"_

_All those little looks._

_The way Jack caressed him… undressed him… with his eyes… he'd planned it all along… _

"_There is no cure… your girlfriend will __**not **__be the exception…"_

_Jack had killed her._

Ianto stirred, uneasy in his sleep, images jumbling in his head… Jack… Lisa… cybermen… the attack on Canary Warf.

Everything that had happened in the Hub.

Afterwards.

Breakfast.

Dinner.

The roof… Jack's coat around his shoulders…

Lisa's screams...

Ianto woke with a start in a tangle of sweat-soaked sheets, his heart pounding in his ears.

"You killed her," he sobbed into the darkness, pulling his knees up tight against his chest. Jack had _**murdered**_ her. _He killed her to get to me. There was a cure. He __**had**__ a cure. __**He could have cured her!**_

Ianto shook himself. No. No, that wasn't right. He understood the mechanics of cyber conversion. There was no cure.

But Jack was from the fifty first century. There had to be a cure!

Pain lanced through the Welshman's skull as he fought the nightmare… he fumbled for the com on the night table, shaking against the urge to run away. He knew about Jack's secret little entrance. There were no security cameras… he could get away… he could escape… he had to run! He had to run away before Jack figured out that he knew… before Jack killed him too…

Ianto clutched desperately at the pendant around his neck. _Don't forget to empty the bins... _their private joke. "He's no killer," he said aloud, needing to hear the sound of his own voice in the darkness. "He loves me as much as I love him." _I will always love you. I will never forget you. _

_I will love you forever, Cariad, even when the last star goes out. _

Ianto pushed the ear piece into place and called for help before he lost the battle with himself…


	6. Chapter 6

…………………………………………………

**Chapter Six: Fear and Loathing**

…………………………………………………………………**..**

Jack felt his heart lurch in his chest when Ianto looked up at him, his eyes wide with fear.

"Stay away from me… I know what you did… stay away…" the terrified young man huddled himself into the corner.

"Ianto… Sweetheart… it's me…"

"I know who you are! I know what you did! You're a monster. Stay away!" Tears streamed down his face.

Jack swallowed and took a step closer, which only seemed to frighten Ianto more; in the next room, it didn't sound like things were going any better with Bobby, Wendy and Tim. "What did I do?" Jack asked his partner.

"You killed her. You killed my Lisa!"

"Ianto… Lisa died almost three years ago," he said because even though he knew he hadn't killed _Lisa,_ he had shot the Cyberman she'd become. But in Ianto's mind…

"It doesn't matter. I _**loved**_ her. I loved her more than I could ever love you! More than I'll ever love anyone! You murdered her!" he lunged past Jack, desperate to get to the hidden door on the other side of the room.

Jack caught him; the younger man screamed as if he was in pain. It tore at Jack's heart as much as what he'd just said, but Jack held fast until Bobby could get him sedated… Ianto sunk to the floor, crying.

"Shhh… Sweetheart, it's all right," Jack crooned, holding him close, rocking him gently back and forth, trying to comfort him but feeling like he was failing miserably… wondering, even if it was only the result of some altered state, if there was any truth to what Ianto had said about him and Lisa. "It's going to be all right," he said, praying that it was true.

Ianto looked up as if seeing him for the first time. "Jack? Cariad…please… please don't leave me."

Jack wrapped his arms tighter around his shaking partner; he was shaking himself. He'd never seen Ianto so frightened, so out of control. "I'm _right_ here. I love you." He kissed the top of the younger man's head. "I've got you, Sweetheart. I'm not going anywhere. I will _always_ love you."

"Everything is so messed up… my head…"

"Shhh…"

"We need to get them both upstairs, Jack," Bobby advised in a quiet tone.

In the next room, Tim wasn't in any better shape than Ianto. When Jack had scrambled down the ladder to answer the Welshman's pleas for help, Tim was already awake, looking frantic. He looked at Jack as if he didn't know who he was… as if he didn't know where he was.

Bobby and Wendy had been right behind Jack, in case he needed assistance; it took all of Wendy's considerable strength to restrain the American...

"Ianto, can you walk…?" Jack asked his partner. He knew he should be equally concerned about both men, but his heart was clouding his judgement… he would just have to trust Wendy to see to Tim. "Sweetheart…?"

Ianto shook his head, "Legs feel like rubber bands, Sir."

"I gave him a pretty heavy sedative. Not enough to knock him out…Jack," Bobby indicated that he should turn his attention back to the younger man.

Ianto's eyes had grown wide in fear again when he heard the word sedative; with Jack's attention back on him, he started to struggle.

"Ianto… _Ianto_," Jack snapped; he stopped struggling. He looked up at Jack, seemed to recognize him. "That's it," the Captain coaxed gently. "Stay focused on me… listen to _**me,**_" he waited for Ianto to nod, to acknowledge that he was listening. "I love you. I need you. We have to get through this… just stay with me, here ok?"

Shaking, the younger man nodded again. "It's like… like my head… it's not my own… I have all these thoughts that aren't right… but they feel right… like you… you killed Lisa…" he started to cry again. "You killed her…"

"Ianto…"

"I know. I _**know**_, Jack! There is no cure…" he sobbed, shaking harder. "There was nothing you could have done to save her… but I… oh, God, what's happening to me?" he wept.

"Shhhhh," Jack pressed his lips to his partner's forehead, cradling him against his chest. "Come on, let's get you upstairs. Focus on my voice," he repeated, getting them both to their feet. "Focus on me. Nothing else, just me. I'll get you through this, I promise."

"Keep him focused on real memories, Jack," Bobby advised in a soft tone. "The good ones."

The Captain nodded. "Remember our wedding? Remember how nervous you were?"

"I was not," Ianto tried to laugh, but it was hard… all that blood… Lisa… _shoot her…shoot her or I'll shoot you…_ he had been so sure Jack was going to kill him… maybe a lesser man would have…

"_Ianto…"_

Jack. Jack's voice. His arms holding him tight. _Don't forget to empty the bins._

_He loves me._

Their wedding. They'd been talking about their wedding. "I… I was just scared the Doctor wouldn't show up. I was afraid you might have to ask Rhys at the last minute."

Jack chuckled, getting Ianto slowly to the ladder; Wendy had already managed to get Tim up and out of the sitting room. "Remember how Nerys kept calling you a bridezilla?" he smiled at his partner, only barely holding back his own tears.

Ianto managed to almost laugh for real, "You should have seen her at her own wedding. She was going to have a fit because the carnations were the wrong shade of pink. Mam finally calmed her down… said in ten years no one would remember… Ner wasn't even married ten years." He stifled a sob. "Do you think… will we…will we have that long?"

"I don't know," Jack felt compelled to answer honestly. "But it doesn't matter. I'll take whatever we get and cherish every moment of it."

"Oh God, you're making me cry," Ianto smiled through a fresh torrent of tears. "I love you so much."

"I know… I love you too. We'll get through this… Do you think you can climb up?" Jack nodded at the ladder.

"I think so."

"I'll be right behind you, I promise."

"I'm sorry Jack. I'm so sorry…"

"What for?"

"Being like this. I feel so out of control."

"It's not your fault. Come on, let's just get this figured out and get you better."

"What… what if I never get better? What if… what if this is how it ends…?"

Jack swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat refused to budge. He wiped the tears from his partner's face. "Don't you dare say that, Ianto Jones-Harkness. I am _**not**_ losing you today." Tears bit at his eyes but he held them in check. "Do you hear me?"

Ianto sniffled and wiped his face a little, too. "Loud and clear, Sir."

"Good. Now get your ass up that ladder, Mister."

Ianto managed another real laugh, albeit a small one. His legs felt like rubber, but with Jack supporting him from behind and Bobby at the top to haul him out of the hatch, he managed the climb to Jack's office…

…………………………………………………………….

Tim broke free of Wendy's grasp as soon as they got into the medical bay… autopsy bay… they weren't going to slice and dice him.

He grabbed the first thing he could find… scalpel… he slashed wildly at her, blind panic gripping his chest. He didn't see if he cut her… he didn't care. He had to get out! He had to get Abby and get away… she wasn't at her desk…

"**Abby!"** he screamed out her name… they weren't going to slice and dice him like that guy he'd seen on the autopsey table earlier… "**ABBY!"**

"Tim… "

He saw her. His heart skipped a beat. She was ok. She was still ok. He held out his hand to her. "It's all right. We're going to get out of here, just you and me, Abbs, just like old times."

"Timmy…" dark-stained tears slid down her cheeks. "You have to let us help you… please. I'm your friend, remember? You are one of my best friends…" she looked up as Jack, Ianto and Bobby appeared at the Captain's office door. Ianto was clinging to him as if he was afraid to let go. "I know what's wrong with them, Jack…"

Tim gave a frantic look from her to the dark haired man… she was sleeping with him! "No… no, Abby no, how could you…?"

"Timmy, it's all right, I can help you..." but as she stepped closer, he backed away, towards the main doors, fear clouding his expression.

"Lock down the Hub!" Jack snapped in Mickey's direction. The sound of his voice made Ianto jump, but Jack held on tight. "It's all right…shhhh, Ianto… I'm sorry…" he said in a soft tone, re-capturing his partner's attention. "Come on… we can do this."

Mickey got the lock down code entered just as Tim got to the doors. They remained shut, even when he yanked on the bars.

"Timmy…" Abby kept a careful distance; he still had the scalpel. "Timmy, listen to me… you know me… I'm your friend. Remember? You and me… best buds…"

Tim shook his head as if to clear it, but then he looked at Jack again, cold hatred burning in his eyes. He looked back at Abby. "You're sleeping with him."

"What? Who?"

He didn't answer. He lunged at Jack, but something blocked his way. Something… big. Hairy. Teeth. Claws. _Monstrous…_

He scrambled back from it… there had to be a way out… stairs… stairs going down… down away from the monster… he slugged Mickey when the Englishman got in his way, nearly sending him tumbling down the steps himself.

Tim dove past him, making his escape, his heart pounding in his ears… there had to be some other way out of this place!

Jack looked to Wendy, telling her quietly to go after him, thankful that his partner still recognized his best friend, even in her other skin. "Get to him before he hurts himself," _or does something monumentally stupid down there._

She nodded and gave Abby an apologetic look, wishing she could better convey that she wouldn't hurt him… but Abby seemed to understand.

Wendy pelted down the stairs after Tim, hoping she could get to him before he got to the Weevils.

Abby wiped the tears off her cheeks, trying to get herself to focus… she had to focus….

She couldn't focus.

"Talk to me, Abbs," Bobby encouraged her while Mickey got to his feet and Jack got Ianto to the medical bay. "You said you knew what was happening…?"

"I'm just not sure I know how to fix it," she whimpered.


	7. Chapter 7

**

* * *

**

A/N:

please forgive the shaky science… there's a reason I don't go into a whole lot of Geek-Speak… ;-) I'm also guessing at some of the physical stats… so please forgive inaccuracies (better yet, feel free to correct me so I can correct this!)

…………………………………………………

**Chapter Seven: Paranoid Conclusions**

…………………………………………………………………**..**

"Focus, Abby," Bobby didn't mean to snap, but it seemed to be what she needed from him.

"Right," Abby took a breath to clear her head, wiping the dark streaks off her cheeks. They were standing at her station, in front of one of the computers. "I broke down the chemical composition of that stuff from the thing."

In other circumstances, he might have found her descriptions amusing.

Abby tapped at the keys of her computer, bringing up images on several screens at once.

"That looks almost like PCP…"

"It is. But look at this… and this…" she hit a couple of keys to highlight different points of the chemical analysis. "I don't know what those are. I sent the file to Martha… she's checking it against known drug agents the UNIT database." She needed Tim's background more than ever… he would know what they were looking at. Even if he didn't know exactly what it was, he would know what to do about it… she chewed on her lower lip.

"He'll be all right," Bobby told her, seeming to understand the forlorn look she cast towards the stairs. "You know Wendy won't hurt him."

"This is my fault. I dragged him into this. All he wanted was a week or two away from home to forget about _**Blond**_ Denise." She continued to say the word 'blond' as if it was bad word. "Instead I gave him alien angel dust," she said miserably.

"He'll be all right. If anyone can do this it's you. Come on… let's work on isolating the unknown agents, see if we can figure out their effects on the human brain… we need to know exactly what we're up against."

"What if it's some kind of permanent condition…?"

He shook his head. "Focus on what we _know_, not on what may or may not happen."

"This was easier when I was working on crime scene evidence," she sniffled.

"I know. But Jack has faith in you. So do I."

Abby flashed a tight lipped smile and went to work.

…………………………………………………………

Jack sat on the table with Ianto, his arms wrapped securely around the younger man, holding him. Talking to him. Keeping him focused on the real memories… wondering if there was any truth to some of the things Ianto was saying… Lisa…

……………………………………………………………….

Upstairs, Mickey was fighting a very different kind of battle on the phone. "Gwen, I can't take the Hub out of lockdown until Jack gives the all clear. He can't do that until Wendy finds Tim."

"I can't bloody well do anything to help from Tourist Office, now can I?"

"Jack sent Wendy after him… as soon as she finds him, I'll let you in."

"What am I supposed to do in the mean time? Pass out brochures!"

He let out an exasperated sigh. He'd called her because Bobby wanted to know if the police or hospitals had had any similar incidents and it seemed as if the two of them could get the job done quicker… he knew she was just worried… "You can help me make some calls. It's going to be all right."

"I just hate being locked out here when you're all down there!"

"I know. But if there are any incidents, at least you're out there to handle them."

That logic seemed to make Gwen feel better. "All right. You call the hospitals, I call the police and check in at City Hall."

"Hey… no unnecessary risks. I don't need that husband of yours breaking my knee caps or anything."

Gwen laughed… laughing made her feel better, even if deep down she didn't feel at all good about what was happening, or about being trapped on the outside, helpless to do anything for her friends.

………………………………………………..

Bobby took his mobile to the only place in the Hub that he knew with certainty didn't have any security cameras. Jack's old quarters.

Six rings later, he got an irritated, "Hello…?" on the other end of the line.

"Foreman… I need a favour."

"_Chase?"_

"Yeah, it's me. I need a consult…"

"On what?"

"Write this down…"

"Hang on."

Bobby heard shuffling on the other end. He paced back and forth across the worn rug on Jack's floor. Jack would kill him if he found out. Or maybe not. Not with Ianto as one of the victims… not just Ianto. Any of them. He knew Jack worried about playing favourites, but in the field the Captain treated them all the same, he just didn't always believe it.

Foreman's voice interrupted his thoughts: "What's this about?" he wanted to know.

Bobby didn't answer, asking instead if he was ready to write.

With a sigh, the other affirmed that he was ready. Bobby rattled off the chemical breakdown.

"What is that?"

"You tell me… more important that what it is, I need some idea of what it could do to the human brain. Since you're the neurologist not me, and the only other guy I have who might be able to help it is hyped up on the stuff…it was an accident," he added. If Martha wasn't able to come up with an answer, he needed a back up plan. Foreman was it. "You can bring in House if you need to, but… this is classified information. My boss is probably going to kill me for going outside for help." Kill him or retcon him…

"What are the patient's symptoms?"

"Headache, fatigue, paranoid delusions."

"Patient history?"

"Two patients," he clarified. "Both Caucasian, male, in good health. Patient A…"

"Patient A?" Foreman's tone was scathing.

"Confidentiality. This isn't something I should be talking about at all… but I need some help here." Abby was brilliant, but she was too close to Tim to be thinking clearly. He wasn't even sure he was thinking clearly.

The other sighed. "All right. Patient A," he prompted.

"Twenty eight years old, six foot one, six two… a hundred and seventy pounds maybe. Patient B is five foot eleven and about a hundred and fifty pounds." Although how he maintained his weight with as much take away as they ate was a mystery. _Lots of sex,_ Jack would probably say. "Twenty six years old," he added.

"When were they exposed to the chemical?"

"About two hours ago. Symptoms have escalated in the last half an hour. It was airborne… wait…" a thought hit, making Bobby stop dead in his tracks. _"Shit."_

"What?"

"It wasn't _just_ airborne… oh my God, I'm an idiot. It's on their clothes…" Wendy… her senses were different from a human's and he had no idea what this stuff could do to her…

"Chase?"

"Patient A was hit full in the face," he said as he headed back up the ladder. "It could have entered his system through nose, mouth, skin or eyes. A is seems to be exhibiting stronger symptoms than B. Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"B has more experience in… in dealing with unusual circumstances that may lead to delusions." How the Hell else could he explain the fact that Ianto may be in better shape because he might have a better grasp of what was going on? He'd been with Torchwood for over three years… "Just take my word on it. The patient isn't lying… _**Mickey!"**_ he hollered out the office door. "Grab a tranq gun and go after Wendy!"

Both he and Abby looked up…

"What?" Mickey frowned. "Why?"

"What's going on?" Abby wanted to know, concern pinching at her features.

"If that stuff was on Tim's clothes, she could be exposed…"

Mickey's expression confirmed that he understood the implication. "How many darts?"

"Two…. I've gotta go," he said into his phone. "Call me if you come up with something." _So much for keeping this under the proverbial hat… _"Be careful," he told Mickey as the other man jogged towards the stairs.

"Don't have to tell me twice," he said over his shoulder and was gone.

Without further explanations to Abby, Bobby pelted towards the medical bay, yelling at Jack to get Ianto out of his clothes…

They both blinked up at him, Jack started, Ianto scared.

"Get him undressed and into the shower…NOW! If there's any residue left on his shirt…"

"Come on, handsome," Jack hauled a very confused, frightened Welshman up to his feet, "Time to get you naked," he smirked. Then he cupped the back of Ianto's head very gently in one hand, forcing the other to maintain eye contact with him.

Ianto nodded. "I'm all right, Cariad. I…I trust you," his tone and his expression, however, were less than convincing.

…………………………………………………………

"Wen… Sweetheart… are you all right…?" Mickey asked in a cautious tone, the tranq gun raised as he approached. She had Tim pinned in a corner. The poor guy looked petrified. Who wouldn't be? He was scared himself, and Wendy was his friend.

She turned. It was hard to tell if she was all right or not… her expression wasn't fluid… Jack seemed to be able to tell what she was thinking, but he was baffled. Still… she wasn't acting paranoid. She hadn't killed Tim… that had to be a good sign.

She was looking at him expectantly.

Mickey took a breath. "Stand clear," he said, hoping that the tranq wouldn't be too much for the other man's system to handle on top of everything else…


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Another Jack/Ianto chapter… After this, I promise, we'll get back to Tim and Abby. Thank you again for the reviews, fave/alert listings. They are, as always, greatly appreciated.

**Thank you to ptath of Mayhem21 for help with Tim's stats**... I couldn't find Sean Murray's (at least not Sean Murray the actor's) physical stats online (at least not easily.)

* * *

**Chapter Eight: The Long Road Home**

…………………………………………………………………**..**

Rather than chance the ladder again, Jack took Ianto to the locker room where he proceeded to begin undoing buttons, only barely keeping his hands from shaking.

Would they have ten years, he wondered… would they have another day…?

"Anything to get me out of my clothes, huh?" Ianto managed to tease him; he was shaking, too.

Jack smiled. The smile deepened when he saw his partner's deep scowl at the way he handled his clothes once he had Ianto out of them. "Sorry, the hamper's at our place remember?"

"That doesn't mean you have to throw them on the floor." His tone was dry.

"It's not the end of the world," Jack leant in and brushed his lips against the younger man's, relief filling him when Ianto responded. Each little joke, each snarky comment… having him return his kiss… convinced him that it was going to be all right. "I'm just going to have to bag them up and give them to Abby anyway. Now come on," he coaxed his partner into the shower. He doubted he would ever say it aloud, but the fear he'd seen in Ianto earlier, fear of him, had hurt more than almost anything else Jack had ever felt before.

"You should take off your clothes, too. You'll get soaked."

"Now who's trying to get who wet, hot and naked?"

Ianto managed another small laugh. "I can probably shower by myself, Cariad."

Reluctantly, Jack nodded. "I won't be far. If you need me…"

"I'll holler, I promise." Ianto caught Jack's hand as he turned to leave. "Those things I said… about Lisa and… and you?" He waited for Jack's nod; he saw the concern… the hurt… on his lover's face. "I know it wasn't your fault, Jack. I just… I keep seeing her face. I keep feeling all these things… things I know aren't real, but I can't stop myself from feeling them. But I know… I _**know**_ you did what you had to do. I know she was gone long before her body died…. I just… I couldn't let go…"

"Shhh… don't think about it. Just concentrate on rinsing off. Think about… about whatever makes you happy."

He cast a deliberately warm smile in the other man's direction. "That shouldn't be too hard."

Ianto let go of Jack's hand and turned on the spray, letting the hot water envelope him. He focused on the memories he knew were his own, the things he _wanted_ to remember.

Their wedding. His mother trying to tell him his father would have been pleased… his step father. He hadn't seen his biological father since he was so young he barely remembered him. The man he'd grown up with was the only 'real' father he'd ever known. They'd had a good relationship until he was a teenager... _but at least half of that was my fault… _Ianto admitted to himself... he wished they'd had a chance to make up… he turned up the hot water, making the shower warmer.

He thought about that night on the roof when Jack had wrapped him up in his coat so he wouldn't be cold…how good he'd felt with it around his shoulders. How warm.

Safe.

Loved.

_I will always love you… I will never forget you… _

He remembered the first time he and Jack had had sex… made love… _dabbled…_ how nervous he'd been… how good Jack made him feel. Not just that the sex was good… fantastic even… but the way Jack had put him at ease. He hadn't had to. He could have taken advantage of the situation… _but Jack isn't like that… _

Ianto closed his eyes. He didn't get out of the shower until the water had become cold to stand there any longer. Jack was waiting for him with a towel.

"You ok?" the Captain asked hopefully. His expression was still pained.

"Better, I think," Ianto told him honestly, letting Jack wrap the towel around his slender body. He had a hundred memories of Jack taking care of him like this. Usually it involved a night of Weevil hunting or some other activity that had left his body bruised. Battered. He would never admit to his partner just how much he loved it when he pampered him. It was even better when Jack could run a bath, usually with lots of bubbles and bath salts… sometimes he didn't even get in with him, he just put him in the tub and sat in the room with him while he soaked…

Ianto shuddered as uglier thoughts pushed their way forward again. He forced himself to meet Jack's gaze. "I still… I can still… see it… all of it… those other people who died… that was my fault… I could have destroyed everything…"

Jack gathered him into his arms and held on tight. "But you didn't."

"Only because you stopped me."

He couldn't argue. He couldn't lie… all it took was one Cyberman… "You loved her. I… I am sorry, Yan. If there was _anything_ I could have done… but even in my time there was no 'cure', no way to reverse the conversion process."

"I know. I really _**do **_know that, Cariad."

Cariad. _Beloved._ Jack felt himself relax a little more. "I got a change of clothes for you out of your locker."

"Never thought I'd see the day you were in a rush to get me dressed," Ianto teased.

He grinned, "Who says I'm in a rush? As far as I'm concerned you could never get dressed again. You know, there are planets out there… perfectly civilized planets… where nobody wears clothes?"

The younger man chuckled, "Remind me _not_ to ask you to show your vacation photos to my mother."

Jack laughed.

Ianto let his Captain help him into fresh clothes and tried not to cringe when he saw that his partner had tossed what he had been wearing into a garbage bag… he knew it was just what had come to hand out of the storage closet in the locker room. "Have you heard anything about Tim?"

"Wendy found him," he reported what he'd been told though his com. Ianto had been in the shower for almost forty five minutes. Jack knew he didn't need that thorough of a rinse, but if standing under a hot shower made him feel better, he wasn't going to rush it. The others could hold down the fort without him to hold their hands. "Abby tested his clothes and found residue of what she's calling 'alien angel dust.' There's probably some on your suit, too."

Ianto blinked at the words 'angel dust'. "PCP?" he gulped.

"Or something pretty close to it," Jack confirmed. "You ok?" Ianto was looking pallid.

"Yeah… yeah, it's just… sorry, this is going to sound really stupid, but I've never… I mean…" he'd never done drugs, not more than a little pot and alcohol in his misspent youth, anyway. PCP would explain what he'd felt… what he was still feeling… "So… I'm going to be all right? And Tim?"

"Abby's pretty sure you're going to be fine, but Mickey had to hit Tim with one of the darts from the tranq gun. He's in rough shape. Bobby's debating whether or not he wants to treat him here to take him to St. Helen's."

The younger man nodded; they kept the tranqs loaded with four species sedative. One dart was enough to drop a fully grown Hoix to its knees. "Jack… I… I love you. You know that, right?"

The uncertainty in his partner's tone tore at his heart. "I know you love me. I love you too, Sweetheart, more than I ever thought I could love anybody. I never expected this," Jack admitted.

"When I die…"

"You're not going to die."

"Yes I will. Maybe… maybe not today… maybe today was just some bad alien drug trip, but someday I am going to die and I want you to promise me that… that you won't… that you'll move on. I want you to meet somebody else. I want you to love him or her just as much… as much as you love me. I want you to always be happy."

"Shhh…"

"Please. Promise me Jack. I don't want you to be alone. I love you too much… _please_…"

"I promise. I'll love again. But not for a long_, long_ time. You're not dying, not today. Nobody's dying today."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **again, I'm going to have to apologize for lack of perfectly accurate science/medicine. There are parts of this that I've been dying to write for ages, but never had the right 'case'. If ever there was going to be a time Bobby would call for backup it would be when he was afraid of losing two memebers of the team, even if one of them was 'the new guy.'

* * *

**Chapter Nine: House Call**

…………………………………………………………………

"Cool digs," Greg House's stubbly face loomed over the medical/autopsy bay, projected bigger than life onto the tiled white wall. If he could have seen it, he would probably have been pleased. "I'll bet the patients just love that shiny metal table. So comforting." His tone was entirely sarcastic… although his tone was pretty much always sarcastic so it was hard to tell if he was actually being sarcastic or not.

Tim, still unconscious, lay on the examination table, in an extra set of scrubs Bobby had tucked away. They'd laid a blanket down under him as well as covreing him; he still looked uncomfortable.

Bobby glanced into the web cam. "Most of my patients are dead by the time they get here…" he began, but the sound of Abby's gasp stopped him mid-sentence. She was at the top of the stairs. "Abbs… I didn't mean… come on, you know… we're going to get him through this."

She took a breath, swallowed, and came the rest of the way down. "I know. I finished running the last of the ali..er…unknown compounds..." she flashed an uncertain glance up at the image being projected onto the wall.

House gave an incredulous look. "You can stop dancing around that neon elephant in the room now… Bobby," he said his name with an audible sneer. It wasn't a name anyone in New Jersey had ever called the Australian. Chase was Chase, occasionally Robert, but never Bobby. "It's alien, isn't it?" It was only barley a question.

The medic regarded both he and Foreman a moment. After the Daleks had displaced the planet, people didn't 'believe' in aliens any more. They didn't have to simply believe, they _knew_. It frightened most people. "What difference does it make?" Bobby asked at length.

"Plenty," House popped several vicoden into his mouth, swallowing them dry. "If it's street drugs, there goes my story to the National Enquirer. Aliens though… that I can sell," he smirked.

"This isn't funny!" Abby yelled up at him. "A man could be dying here!"

Bobby turned to her. "Take it easy, Abbs, he's like this with everybody. And every situation. It's not personal."

"Well it should be!" she huffed.

The medic turned his attention back to the web cam.

Foreman was seated behind House, arms crossed over his chest, reading the latest results Bobby had sent him via email. A deepening scowl spread across the otherwise handsome dark-skinned face… the expression was as typically Foreman as sarcasm was typically House.

The only thing Bobby was grateful for was that Alison Cameron was apparently too busy to get herself dragged into House's machinations. "Do you have any ideas or not?" he asked his former colleagues.

Foreman looked up from the computer. "What the Hell is this 'sedative' supposed to stop? This stuff is strong enough to knock out a rhinoceros…"

"Close enough," Mickey groaned, remembering the first time he'd seen a Judoon, up close and personal, on the parallel version of Earth.

"It takes out whatever it has to," said Wendy in a dry, cool tone as she joined them after having gotten dressed. "He took one dart and still charged us, Dr. House."

House leant forward towards the camera. "So how'd you stop him? Flash your… eyes?" Clearly it wasn't her eyes he was looking at. Or referring to.

"I… restrained… the patient bodily. He finally fell unconscious a few seconds later and we were able to get him back up here." She let her gaze shift to Abby; her expression softened considerably. She reached over and touched her arm. "He'll be ok, Abbs."

While the others talked, Bobby was hooking up monitors… heart… blood oxygen… the environment was far from sterile and he wasn't equipped to do more than minor patch-ups on live patients.

He watched Abby clinging to Tim's hand, her gaze riveted to his pale face. "You can make him better, though, right?" she asked Bobby.

He didn't answer. "Mickey… get Gwen on the line. I think I'm going to have to move him to hospital once he's stable. Wen… you know where I keep the saline, right? I'm also going to need some epinephrine… third drawer…" he added as she started to gather up what he needed.

Abby gave him a horrified look at the mention of the epinephrine.

"If his heart _doesn't _stop, at least once, in the next twenty minutes, I'll be surprised, Abby," he told her honestly.

Tim's heart rate had been jumping erratically since they got him back up to the medical bay. Some of it may have been the sedative... maybe.

Bobby looked at the web cam. "I need to move him. Soon. First I need to get him stable. I can't let paramedics down here… so I have to get him up to them. I'm open to suggestions."

………………………………………………………………………

Abby climbed into the back of the ambulance with Tim and the paramedics, fresh tears staining her pale cheeks. Tim's heart had stopped twice.

"It's not your fault," Bobby insisted, again, in a quiet tone just before the paramedics closed the ambulance doors; he doubted she believed him. "This could have happened to any of us."

"But he wouldn't be here if it weren't for me, Bobby. I dragged him into this."

Before he could respond, the paramedics closed the doors and she settled in next to Tim, clinging to his hand. "Please be all right …" she whispered, brushing her hand across his cheek.

Part of her wanted to stay in the Hub and keep running more tests, come up with new answers… but this wasn't some crime scene. This was her friend. Her fault. "Don't you dare die on me, Timothy McGee. I will never forgive you if you do!"

……………………………………………………….

The others turned as Jack and Ianto came out of the Tourist Office. Jack's arm was wrapped securely around his partner's waist, and his coat was wrapped around the younger man's shoulders so he wouldn't catch a chill, having just come out of the shower.

Wendy was the first to wrap her arms around the Welshman's neck, although getting him away from Jack was something that was clearly not going to happen any time soon. She didn't care; she let her arms rest on his shoulders. "I'm so glad you're all right, Sweetheart," she said, ruffling his hair a little; it made him smile. He looked so much better than he had an hour ago.

"I still feel out of it," Ianto admitted. "But… I think I'm going to be all right." The worst of it had passed. He still kept feeling things… hearing things… things that weren't real. But he knew that Jack loved him and at the moment that was all that mattered…

Not just Jack. Gwen, Wendy, Mickey, Bobby… Abby.

Jack loved him. His friends loved him. His family. _**That**_ was all that mattered. He dislodged himself from Jack's grip, giving his lover the kind of smile that assured him it was all right. That _they_ were all right.

The Captain nodded, turning to the others. "Good job, gang." He looked to each in turn, the pride he felt in each of them evident on his face.

Bobby didn't meet his gaze, however. "Yeah… erm… Jack… there's… something I have to tell you."

"It can wait..."

"You probably want to hear this now," he insisted.

"All right. You can ride with us to the hospital… Mickey, you and Wendy stay here. Gwen, go home..."

"Jack…"

"You're pregnant not an invalid," he repeated her argument back at her. "You did a great job. Now go back home. I'll see you in the morning." His tone brooked no room for argument, even from her.

"Call me if there are any changes…?" she asked with a pleading expression.

He nodded his agreement and headed towards the SUV, his arm wrapped securely around Ianto's waist, just in case any of those paranoid delusions reared their ugly heads again.

Bobby hesitated when Ianto started to slide into the back seat, but the Welshman nodded to indicate he understood Bobby wanted to talk to Jack and that might be better accomplished if he sat up front.

"So what's on your mind?" Jack queried as he pulled out of the car park.

"I… have a confession. You're not going to like it." He took a deep breath and outlined his phone call to Foreman and the subsequent conversations between himself, Foreman and House. "I understand if… if you… if this is the end of my job here," he concluded. "But I want you to know that I would do it the same way again, if I had to. There was nothing in the UNIT database that even compared to the stuff that came through the rift this morning. I needed outside help. I'm not sorry I asked for it."

"Do you trust them?" Jack's question startled him.

Bobby gave himself a minute to think about it, not answering until they pulled into the car park of St. Helen's hospital. "If I needed a doctor, I would trust both Foreman and House with my life. I wouldn't trust either of them with my girlfriend… well, Foreman, maybe, he's not that stupid. But I wouldn't trust either them with my credit cards or to water my houseplants. House is self absorbed and ego centric, but he's a brilliant doctor. They both are. If I hadn't had their help, I may have lost Tim at least once in the last hour. Saving one life is worth… worth however much of my memory you retcon out of my head."

"Jack…" Ianto began to protest.

The Captain shook his head. "I'd like to get through the next few hours before I decide whether or not I have to hire a new medic."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **again a huge thank you to everybody who has continued to read (and hopefully enjoy) this!

Can anyone tell me what's with grapes and hospitals in the UK? I've noticed the connection between grapes and sick friends in hospital in both Doctor Who and Torchwood. (Over here, we just bring flowers… all things considered, I'd rather have grapes. Last time I was in hospital, my roommate had so many roses our room was starting to smell like a funeral parlour. It wasn't very comforting considering I was in for major surgery.)

…………………………………………………

**Chapter Ten: Aftermath**

…………………………………………………………………**..**

"Please tell me you're not seriously considering retconning Bobby, Cariad," Ianto said in a quite tone. He and Jack were seated in the waiting room near the Intensive Care Unit, with one other couple whose son had been involved in an auto accident.

Bobby was with Tim.

Abby paced furiously back and forth, chewing on her thumb nail, periodically glancing up at the clock.

As for the question, Jack gave his partner a look that would have caused anyone else to back down from the subject. Immediately.

Ianto, however, wasn't anyone else. He knew the man sitting next to him better than anyone else did. "Do you _honestly _fault him for doing whatever he felt was necessary when lives were at stake?" he pressed, carefully avoiding mentioning that his was one of those lives.

Jack didn't meet his gaze. "No," he said at last.

"Well then…"

"It's _not_ settled," the Captain snapped before the other man could finish his sentence. Abby stopped pacing long enough to glower at him; then she resumed her treading back and forth, lost in her own thoughts. Jack continued, keeping his voice low. "He let strangers into the Hub…"

"It was a _video conference_, Jack," Ianto cut him off. "They have absolutely no idea where he was calling from, other than it was _somewhere_ in Cardiff... which in case you've forgotten is arather large city. It's not as if he gave them the security codes to our front door or access to our files. Besides, it's not as if the whole world doesn't know more than it did a year ago about our place in the universe. You're the one who keeps saying this is when it all changes."

"Not like this."

Ianto sighed. He knew when Jack was being stubborn for the sake of it. "Would you have done any less, if you had been in his position?"

Jack didn't answer. He sat back and closed his eyes, hanging onto Ianto's hands, thinking about how close he came to losing his partner on a regular basis and how much he hated it. Human life was too short to begin with, compared to his own seemingly infinite lifespan. What was he really going to do in ten or twelve or twenty years when he lost Ianto?

He prayed for that long at least, but even so, what was twenty years compared to forever? Even if he had some hope that it would eventually end, how many more years would he live? A million? A billion? Two billion… two _hundred _billion… he'd heard the rumours about the Face of Boe being as old at the Universe itself and he fully believed that it was just the sort of clue he'd leave for himself. How much of this would he really remember in a billion years?

He glanced over at the painfully young man sitting next to him. _Somehow I __**will**__ remember you… _he promised, giving Ianto's hand a gentle squeeze.

He didn't want to see the beginning of the universe, he just wanted to live a normal life and grow old with the man he loved… but if the Doctor couldn't fix him, no one could…

Eventually a nurse appeared to tell them that Tim's condition had stabilized. Jack rose to his feet, relieved for the good news.

"We're going to keep him for a few days," she cautioned. "But it looks like the worst of it has passed."

"Can I see him?" Abby asked.

"He's still unconscious…"

"I don't care. I _need _to see him. Please…" she turned to Jack, knowing he would fix it for her.

"Torchwood," he told the nurse. He settled his hands on his hips. "One of us needs to be there when he wakes up," he said in a no-room-for-arguments tone.

Doubt flickered across the woman's face for only half an instant. Ianto would never have said it to his partner, but Jack was far more well known than he cared to be. One look at the RAF greatcoat slung over the back of a chair… his clothing… dark hair… blue eyes… the woman nodded, clearly convinced of his identity as Torchwood's infamous Captain Jack Harkness.

The nurse glanced from him to Abby and then back again before relenting. She flashed a tight lipped, professional and agreed to escort Abby back, with the caution that she needed to remember not excite Tim. "Quiet rest is what your friend needs right now…"

Bobby joined them in the waiting room a few moments later. He didn't meet Jack's gaze, turning to Ianto instead. "Before you two head home, I'd like to run a full tox panel on you. If…?" he glanced hesitantly at Jack, but the older man nodded. "I can take you back and do it myself. I just have to draw some blood. It'll just take a few minutes." His glance flickered briefly to Jack again, but only briefly. He couldn't maintain eye contact with either of them.

Ianto merely nodded… Jack caught his arm, "Will you be all right on your own?" his Captain asked. "I'd like to go check on Abby and Tim before we leave."

"I'll be fine, Cariad. I haven't had a paranoid thought in at least the last twenty minutes," he teased in a light hearted tone, although he had been keeping careful track of thoughts that felt foreign, occasionally hanging on a little tighter to Jack's hands, reminding himself of how much he loved the man. How much Jack loved him.

He pulled him close and for a brief, wonderful, moment all Ianto could smell were those fifty-first century pheromones.

"I won't be long," Jack promised.

"Take your time. I'll be fine, honest."

The older man nodded and went to track down a nurse to take him to Tim. This one didn't argue with him over the request. He wondered if word had really spread that quickly…

Tim's room was dimly lit. He was hooked up to monitors and IV, but he looked better than he had before.

Abby sat next to him, hanging onto his hand. She looked up when Jack came in.

"He's still unconscious," she said in an uncharacteristically soft whisper. "It's probably just the sedative, though. His heart stopped again, after they got him here. They say he's all right now. It's going to be touch and go for the next few hours, but he's all right," her voice caught.

Jack sat down next to her resting his hand lightly on her back. "Do you need anything?"

"Maybe Mickey could bring me my toothbrush…? And Tim likes poetry. I'd like to read to him… they say that helps. He likes e.e. cummings."

Jack couldn't help but chuckle; he wouldn't have expected that. "I'll have Mickey drop by the library. Anything else?"

She shook her head, her black pig tails flapping.

Jack suppressed another chuckle. Torchwood had definitely not been the same since Abby Scuito joined his team.

_My team… _all the changes he'd seen the last year. _Tosh… Owen… _Owen who regularly ordered pizza under the name Torchwood and had it delivered to the Tourist Office… _only you, Harper,_ Jack thought at his dead… dead-dead… teammate's direction. _Damn, I miss you… I miss you both so much some days… _For a brief moment he thought back to the team he'd had before them. They hadn't been his of course, he'd been a part of their team, but they'd been good people. He missed them. He missed all of them.

Almost everyone he'd worked with over the years had been good people, he'd just been reluctant to let any of them in. When you let people in, when you cared, it hurt even more when they died than if they'd been strangers… strangers he saw and worked with every day.

But strangers or friends, it didn't matter, they all died sooner or later. _Sooner for having joined Torchwood._

Jack leant in and kissed Abby's forehead. "He'll be fine, Abbs." Nobody was going to die today.

"I know."

"This wasn't your fault."

She didn't answer.

"Abby…"

"I know. This could have happened to any of us. But I brought him in."

"And he said yes," Jack reminded her. He hadn't pulled any punches with Tim. He'd outlined the risks.

She heaved a sigh and gave a reluctant nod, leaning into Jack's arms for a moment without letting go of Tim's hand.

He held her a long while. "I'm going to go take Ianto home," he said at last, "but if you need anything, call me."

Abby nodded again and he took his leave, telling her he'd be back in the morning. "Get some sleep," he added on his way out the door.

Jack found another nurse, to help him find Ianto and Bobby...

"I fell like a bloody pin cushion," Ianto grumbled by way of hello. "Or maybe one of Abby's voodoo dolls." Bobby had drawn half a dozen vials of blood.

Jack couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. Every joke… every snarky little comment… he had never been so frightened as he'd been when Ianto shrank back away from him earlier.

He helped the younger man down off the table despite the fact that he was sure Ianto could get down just fine all by himself.He coudldn't help the light thumping in his chest, however, whenhis Welshman laid his hands on his shoulders, accepting his assistance without question or hesitatin. Jack took just a few seconds to enjoy the contact before turning to Bobby.

"I'm going to stay and run the tests myself," the medic said simply.

"I'm sending Mickey to drop a few things off for Abby. Do youneed anything?" Jack's tone was cool.

Bobby shook his head. Then, "I… I'd like to spend a little time with Wendy tonight… if I can. I… should have this wrapped up about midnight. I'm expecting it to come back clean, I just want to be certain he's going to be all right especially if…" he shrugged rather than finishing the sentence. He wanted to be sure Ianto was going to be all right especially if he didn't get the chance to do a follow up later… if he didn't remember who Jack and Ianto were.

"I'll check in on Tim, too," he promised. By this time tomorrow he might not remember knowing any of them, but for right now, it was important to him to know that they'd be all right.

Jack nodded, "I'll send Wendy home. And I'll see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning."

Bobby swallowed, but didn't argue. "No matter what happens… whatever you decide… I want you to know that I've loved every minute of working with you. All of you," he glanced in Ianto's direction. "Even if I don't remember it, I've had the time of my life. I appreciate everything you've done for me. If I could just ask one thing," he looked to Ianto. "Whatever happens… Wendy… if… just look after her for me, would you?"

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Ianto told him, not daring looking at Jack himself.

The otherdidn't answer, he just left them alone in the exam room.

Ianto turned to his partner. "Jack… you're not really going to retcon him, are you?"

"I want him to sweat it over night," was his only answer. Then he wrapped his arms around his Welshman's waist. "Why don't we go out for dinner tonight, just you and me? Maybe that Italian place by your old flat…?"

Ianto shook his head, surprising the other man. "I want to go home, Jack. I want to watch you cook. I want to moan about the mess you've made in the kitchen and about how you never hang up your coat," he paused while Jack laughed, although the Captain had the wisdom not to contradict his assessment of their domestic life.

Ianto smiled and continued, "I want to help Jason with his homework and hear about your mother's boy or girlfriend of the week," because no matter how much Ella asserted that her son wasn't typical of the fifty-first century, her dance card was certainly quite full these days. He supposed she had every right, and she was always, _always_ there for Jason. His only real discomfort came in being forced to view Jack's mother as sexually active, and that only bothered him because it made him wonder about his own mother which was something he _didn't_ want to think about.

"I want to call my mother," he told him, "and talk with her about absolutely nothing. I want to hear all about how Ner hates her new job and how Remi's doing in school. I might even call my brothers tonight… well… Gavin and Dafydd at least." He still tended to avoid Cade. It was best for both of them.

"Why don't we invite your mother and Nerys for dinner?" Jack suggested. "I could make my galaxy famous chili…" he offered up with a broad grin.

His Welshman groaned. "I don't think my mother could survive your chilli a second time, Cariad."

He laughed, "How about I just throw some spaghetti together, instead?"

"That sounds wise. I'll need to stop off at Tesco on the way home and pick up some salad, though." Couldn't really have spaghetti without salad and it was one thing he could make.

"We could maybe some pineapple and whipped for later," Jack suggested then with a lascivious grin, his eyebrows raise suggestively.

"I do like the way you think…"

Jack pressed his lips hard against his partner's mouth, drawing out a deep, fierce kiss that both their bodies responded to.

"Keep that up and we won't be having company for dinner," Ianto murmured when he was finally allowed to speak.

Jack smirked. "Oh no. We're having company. I just wanted to give you a taste of what you're in for later."

The younger man smiled and pushed against his partner's lips again, giving _him_ a taste of what _**he**_ was in for…


	11. Chapter 11

…………………………………………………

**Chapter Eleven: Picking Up the Pieces**

…………………………………………………………………

Despite having had a (relatively) quiet dinner with family and a not-at-all-quiet desert all by themselves, Jack found himself soothing his partner through several violent nightmares during the night. The young man's screams woke both Jason and Ella twice... the second time Jack got out of bed to try and convince his son that nothing was seriously the matter.

"Something happened at work today," was all he could say, keeping Jason out of their room even though Ianto had drifted back to sleep.

"How come bad stuff always happens at work?" the boy wanted to know.

The question hit Jack hard; he knelt down and drew his son into his arms, "It's what we do… sometimes bad stuff happens. But it's going to be all right." Nobody was going to die, not today. "I have to get back to Ianto… He'll be ok, I promise," he kissed the top of Jason's head. "Everything will be fine."

"You always say that."

"And everything is always fine, isn't it?"

Jason shrugged. "I guess."

"Well… see?" Jack asked, looking up to his mother for help.

She took Jason downstairs for some hot chocolate with the promise that he could stay home from school if he was too tired in the morning. Jack knew how Ianto would feel about that… hopefully under the circumstances he wouldn't accuse them of coddling Jason. He hadn't missed a day of school since that rough patch at the beginning.

Jack curled around his partner; he was shaking. Freezing. He pulled another blanket over him and hugged him close, holding on tight as Ianto drifted back into restive sleep… but at least he didn't have any more nightmares.

…………………………………………………………………..

"I'm fine," Ianto insisted when the alarm went off at six am.

Jack refused to let him up. "No you're not."

"Jack…" Ianto struggled to turn so he could face his partner. "I want to go into work today. No matter what happens."

"You really think I'm going to sack him, don't you?"

"I'm honestly not sure what you're going to do. But it's my responsibility, too. You're the one who promoted me to office manager, remember?"

He sighed. "Fine. But no matter what happens today, you stay in the Hub. I don't want you out in the field until we're sure you're back up to one hundred percent. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good," Jack released his hold on the younger man so he could get out of bed. He reached out and caught his hand before he completely got away, though. "Ianto… you know any time you want to retire…"

He shook his head. "We've had this discussion."

"I know. I just… the thought of losing you…"

Ianto leant in and kissed him… it was longer and sweeter than their usual morning kisses. "I know. I do. I'm sorry…"

"Don't be sorry," he ran his fingers along his Welshman's cheek, pulling him back into the bed, but not trapping him there. "Part of what I love about you… what I've always loved about you… is how brave you are," he drew the younger man into another soft kiss. "Just promise me you'll always be careful."

"You have my word."

Despite not being trapped, Ianto didn't get back out of bed for almost another hour… neither did Jack.

……………………………………………………………..

When Bobby entered the Hub, the only two people he saw were Gwen, at her computer, and Ianto making coffee.

He forced himself to go over to Gwen and give her a cheerful hello. He could tell by her expression she didn't know this might be his last day. Which didn't mean it wasn't. He knew Jack; the Captain tended to play things close to the chest.

"How's the morning sickness?" Bobby asked.

"Just promise me it really gets better the second trimester," was her dry response.

Bobby chuckled, "I promise." _I just hope I'm here… _

Ianto came up set a cup of tea on Gwen's desk.

"Oh, you're a saint," she crooned at him, picking it up with both hands and inhaling contentedly.

"I try my best. Bobby," Ianto handed him his cup.

The medic took it, but hesitated in drinking… he glanced at the other man; his only response to the subtlety displayed suspicion was a small smile. Bobby decided that even if Jack had ordered him to do it, the Welshman would at least have the decency to tell him it was drugged. "Feeling ok?" Bobby asked, sipping his coffee.

"I had nightmares all night… which could be the result of Jack's cooking as much anything else," he replied with an easy smile.

Gwen laughed, "Not Captain Jack Harkness' galaxy famous chilli again, I hope."

"No. We had my mother, sister and niece over. I couldn't in good conscience subject them to that again."

Even Bobby managed a laugh; they'd all had Jack's chilli a time or two. The only person it didn't seem to frighten was Abby, but she'd grown up Louisiana, presumably on spicy Creole cooking.

Gwen fixed Ianto with a serious look. "Honestly, Sweetheart, are you sure you're all right to be here, today? We can manage… "

He waved it aside, "I'm on desk duty," he told her, sipping his coffee. "I feel all right. I barely even remember the nightmares," he added truthfully. "I remember having them but not what they were about."

"It might be just be that the 'alien angel dust' dredged up a bunch of painful memories," Bobby opined. He wasn't sure if he was putting off seeing Jack or honestly getting in a last few minutes with Gwen and Ianto. Even though he knew he wouldn't remember any of this, he couldn't imagine his life without Torchwood, without his friends.

Last night he and Wendy had spent the whole night just being together. He read to her. Held her. Stayed up later than they usually did, talking. Making love. He wouldn't tell her what was wrong, but she was sure something was. He realized he was staring into his cup and Gwen was staring at him…

"Guess I'd better get this over with," Bobby flashed her a tight smile before heading to Jack's office.

"You've been here almost fifteen minutes," the Captain greeted him coldly without looking up from the paperwork on his desk.

"Sorry."

"Sit," Jack just barley nodded at the chair opposite his desk.

Bobby sat. He waited. Jack took his time.

Finally he looked up, took a deep breath and leant back, crossing his arms over his chest. "You broke at least half a dozen security protocols yesterday."

"I didn't realize it was that many," Bobby told him honestly, hoping he wasn't coming off as flippant.

"It was. We have the protocols we have for a reason."

"I know that. Not that it's going to matter. Is it?" he made it a question.

Jack took another deep breath and rose from his chair; he walked around his desk perched on the edge of it, looking down at the young medic. "It took me over two months to come to terms with the fact that I had to fill Owen Harper's slot on this team. _My _team. Owen had been with me for four years. You were the second name on my list… the first name couldn't… or maybe wouldn't… take the job. I knew that before I even asked her."

"So what you're saying is that I was your first choice and I screwed up and now you have to replace me and I should feel like shit about that. Which I do. But in a few hours I won't remember this conversation, ergo, I won't feel guilty for screwing up."

"You're not getting off that easy." Jack turned and grabbed a piece of paper off one of the piles on his desk. "Read this and sign it," he said, handing it over.

Bobby frowned. "What is it?"

"My understanding of office politics in this century is that when somebody screws up, I'm supposed to write them up and put it in their file. Not that anyone will ever call me for a reference." He picked up his empty coffee cup and turned a thoughtful gaze on the man sitting opposite him. "No, I take that back. It would be just my luck that if you ever did quit, you _would_ put Torchwood on your resume."

Bobby only barely suppressed a chuckle… he wasn't sure it was at all appropriate, because it really sounded like Jack was giving him a second chance here… and that was not in Jack's nature.

"Need a pen?" the Captain asked.

"Erm… yeah… I…"

"Help yourself," he nodded to his desk. "And hurry it up. I promised Abby I'd come by the hospital to see her and Tim this morning. I'm assuming you'd like to catch a lift up with me..?"

"Yes… absolutely. I'll just be a minute."

"Good." Jack sauntered out of his office to get a refill on his coffee before they headed out.

……………………………………………………………………

Tim couldn't help the feeling of dread that overtook him when Jack and Bobby came into his room. He'd screwed up. He'd gotten himself and another team mate high on alien drugs… _God that sounds weird,_ he thought.

"How's the patient this morning?" Jack asked with a bright smile, dropping a bag of grapes on the table next to Tim's bed.

"He's doing just fine, Sir," Abby answered for him, grinning hugely at the Captain as she saluted him. "I even made him eat his breakfast. He didn't want to," she flashed a sour look down at Tim.

Jack chuckled and returned the salute. "Good work, Nurse Scuito. How about you two go get some coffee or something," he didn't make it a question.

For half a second Abby looked like she might argue… the she changed her mind and slid her arm into Bobby's as they made their exit.

Jack pulled a chair.

"I screwed up," Tim said, before he could speak.

"It could have been anybody. I screwed up by sending you out into the field on your first day."

Tim blinked… he couldn't remember a time when Gibbs had ever… but this wasn't Gibbs. "Do I still have a job?"

"Do you still want one?"

"I… don't want to quit. Or to get fired," he added quickly; Jack smiled. "I'm just not sure what I really bring to the team," Tim admitted.

"I guess we'll find out. I trust Abby's judgement."

He nodded. Then, "That… thing… what was it?"

"We may never know what it was or where it came from. It could have been some kind of chemical weapon… or it may have been recreational drugs. It may even have been medical supplies," he shrugged. "There was some writing on the outside of the sphere, but it's not like anything in the database and nothing I recognize."

"So… what do we do?"

"Catalogue it. Make sure that if we ever find another one, no one goes near it."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Tim chewed that over a while. It wasn't a very satisifying conclusion, but he couldn't think of a better solution. He noticed Jack watching him... "You know… I mean… that stuff about you and Abby…"

The Captain waved it aside. "It was a bad drug trip. You're not responsible for anything you said or did."

"Thanks. There's just one other thing… when I was… high… I… I could have sworn I saw… this… thing… it… it looked like something out of… this is going to sound really crazy…" so crazy he hadn't even told Abby... but Jack was his boss... and his boss was... smirking?

"Big... teeth... claws...kinda sexy...?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Except for the sexy part," he grimaced at the notion.

"You people...no sense of adventure.The good news is you didn't imagine her. That was Wendy Shutten, Bobby's girlfriend. She works for us."

Tim swallowed. He remembered… it looked like… _werewolf…_ his brain only barely wanted to process the thought. "You've really got a pterodactyl, don't you?"

Jack just laughed, "Yep. Get some rest. I have the feeling you're going to need it."

_- - - x x x - - - _

* * *

**A/N:**

At this point, Ch 1 of **More Short Stories** could be considered the epilogue of this piece.

Thanks again for reading!


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